


The Hardest Thing In This World, Is To Live In It

by InkDomain



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Angst, Depression, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Marriage, Postnatal depression, failing marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 08:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13994145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkDomain/pseuds/InkDomain
Summary: Mary was happy before she had Chris, and then Christian and Christie, the postnatal depression hit her hard. Her own demons consumed her, and Joseph felt neglected and finds comfort in Robert. Attempting to continue with the facade of a happy Christian family, Mary and Joseph attempt to stay together for the children and conceive Crish. Mary can't find it in her to hate Dadsona, it isn't his fault that she made Joseph like this.





	The Hardest Thing In This World, Is To Live In It

**Author's Note:**

> Not proof read.  
> I own nothing but the storyline.   
> Dream Daddy belongs to Game Grumps.  
> Inspired by 'Give Me Something To Sing About' by Sarah Michelle-Gellar.

Life with Joseph had started the way Mary was raised to believe a happy life should begin; a handsome and considerate fiancé, who took her on respectable dates, and even asked her father for his blessing for her hand in marriage. She could not pinpoint with complete accuracy to where the marriage had begun to go off the rails, she suppose that it was different for each of them. For her, the postnatal depression she experienced shortly after Chris was born was the beginning of her unhappy life. The wedding band she had once worn with pride now weighed down on her, making her view it as an anchor tethering her to her post rather than a freedom to share her world with Joseph. Mary stopped enjoying the things she usually did enjoy, she savoured the taste of her wine more than she had ever in her life, but she did her best to be a good mother to her new born. 

Joseph was a sweetheart, did all he could to help her through the pregnancy and afterwards. Having a baby was demanding, and although they loved Chris the way a parent does with their firstborn, Joseph sensed that Mary was suffering. She refused to open up, she was a strong woman who could handle her emotions. That’s what she believed, and she continued to carry the burned, feeding the depression and fuelling her sullen nature with an increase in alcoholism. Living in Maple Bay had once made Mary feel free, her own little town, not too many people, and she looked forward to taking Chris on the yacht and having a picnic out on the open water with her two favourite males in the world. Now, Maple Bay is a cage to her, it had clipped her wings and perpetuated her sadness. Blocked in by the sea, the only solace she found was with her equally suffering neighbour; Robert Small. 

A few years after Chris was born, and Mary had taken comfort in maladaptive behaviours that kept her going through each day, she began to experience similar symptoms to when she had been carrying Chris. Petrified but keeping up her façade, she visited the doctors and received the dreaded information. Joseph lit up when he was told the news, that he would father more children, and the cold pit in Mary’s stomach continued to fester and eat at her emotions. Forced by Joseph and on doctor’s orders, she cut down her drinking until the twins were born. The postnatal depression Mary had felt with Chris now seemed like a walk in the park compared to the instinctual bleakness she was hit with when she woke from several hours of labour, watching Joseph coo over the two bundles of joy gurgling in the cot near her bed. 

Her low mood spiralled down for months, finding comfort in Robert only validated her depression and almost encouraged it. Days bled together, the cries of her children grated on her, and Joseph pretended that he couldn’t hear her crying in the bathroom after she would lock herself inside with a bottle of wine. Joseph prayed for his wife, for her wellbeing, knowing in his heart that Mary was a good woman going through something he didn’t understand. Still, Joseph is only human. He shouldered a majority of Mary’s share of the parenting responsibilities, he would do his share of work as a youth minister and come home to juggle with caring for the three young children and the unattended housework whilst Mary was being eaten alive by an inside enemy. Mary only started to notice the smell of Robert’s signature cologne, a mixture of whiskey and the outdoors, when she would lay in bed next to her sleeping husband after the alcohol had left her enough to allow her to function. 

Three children that she felt nothing for, an adulterous husband who laid with her best friend, and a faith that was crumbling before her very eyes was the life Mary now had. She loved her children, loved her husband, but that wasn’t enough anymore. When she began to get sober, committed to raising her children whose appearance looked too much like Joseph and that made her heart clench, she had confronted Joseph about his relationship with Robert. Feeling ridden with guilt and shame, Joseph begged for forgiveness, claiming he had a moment of weakness due to Mary’s reclusiveness. They agreed to stay together, try to get through this, at least until the children were old enough to move out of the house and away from their toxic relationship. Mary believed that they could pull it off, continue with the façade of a perfect, all-American Christian family for as long as the children needed them to be like that. They even tried for another baby, a successful attempt which gifted the Christiansen’s with another baby boy. He was the only one that looked like Mary, and she found that she could mother him easier than she could with Chris, Christian and Christie. Then they got a new neighbour. 

Mary didn’t peg the new guy to be Joseph’s type, she thought he liked men who were damaged and reclusive, like Robert. She just guessed anything was better than what she could offer, however she still found her fingers delicately turning her gold wedding band whenever she thought about her failed marriage. Neither her nor Joseph believed in divorce, they could get through anything life threw at them, but she couldn’t help but notice the way the new neighbour’s eyes would light up whenever Joseph even remotely looked at him. Her heart aches, she knows that feeling all too well. She still can’t find it in herself to hate him though, he’s sweet, and his relationship with his daughter, Amanda, makes her wish she had that with her own spawn. She will never admit it out loud, but she enjoys his company, and finds it a nice change of pace when he joins her and Robert at Jim and Kim’s. Mary wants to warn him, tell him of Joseph’s sordid past with the other member of their trio, but that would make her no better than Joseph. 

Mary actually feels happy when she is invited to Amanda’s graduation party, and she feels that it is a genuine invitation rather than a second thought to ensure Joseph would be there too. At the party in the neighbour’s back yard, she gives Amanda a few tips for her days establishing herself as her own person, but in the corner of her eyes she sees how her father is acting around her husband. She gives Amanda an encouraging slap on the back and a smile that’s soft around the edges, then joins her closest friend’s side as he leans against the fence away from the rest of the celebrating group. Mary leans against Robert, so their shoulders are touching, and she follows his solemn glare to where Joseph is sat with his newest conquest under a blossoming tree. She can’t help the wince that contorts her face as the two of them watch Joseph deliver news that causes the lone father’s face to fall, standing in the side lines as Robert sucks on his teeth.  
“I guess we all share another pain.” Mary grumbles, only loud enough for Robert to hear, with his only response being a curt nod of his head.  
“We’ve all slept with him, too.” Robert replies, it’s a stab to her heart, but she knows it wasn’t out of malice. Mary lets out a sigh, she had speculation that Joseph had done something with the new kid on the block, but hearing it being validated was enough to make her want to throw up. She rests her head against the slightly warm leather on Robert’s shoulder from his jacket. The pair remain quiet, as they watch the blonde with his own hidden pain create more for their newest member of friendship.

_Life’s not a song_  
_Life isn’t bliss_  
_Life is just this_  
_It’s living_


End file.
